What Is The Real Issue, Lakeview?

As I was looking over the Battle Creek Enquirer website, a headline caught my eye: “Students of color still more likely to be punished” pertaining to the Lakeview School District in Battle Creek.

I thought I would be reading statistics or given examples of how a “student of color” was disciplined for an action, in which a student of, I guess, "no color" (using the vernacular of the Battle Creek Enquirer) was not.

Unfortunately, I was not.

How do you write an article about this issue and not give one example where a “student of color” received punishment whereas a “student with no color” did the same thing and did not receive the same punishment?

Can one of you explain this to me?

The only logical explanation is they do not have one; if they had one, they would have given us that example to bolster their claims.

So, the question then becomes, "Why are they pushing this agenda?"

What group is getting what out of this?

Are they making an issue when one does not exist?

Instead of looking at the statistics without putting them in context, what good are they doing?

If they cannot give us examples of students of varying colors being disciplined differently for the same action, then they should concentrate on why “students of color” have more disciplinary problems than “students without color.”

Is that not the issue?

If you agree then you must ask yourself why are they not addressing the real issue?

Another issue is that this is costing us taxpayers’ money. According to the article “The Lakeview Board of Education agreed to hire racial equity consultant Pace 4 Change last year after disciplinary data showed students of color made up 25 percent of the high school's student body but accounted for 40 percent of disciplinary actions in one semester.”

The question I have is, "Did the student break the rules?" I could care less what color they are — if they broke the rules, they broke the rules.

Are we supposed to give “students of color” a break because they are a “student of color”? If so what is that teaching them?

Let’s discuss this tomorrow (Monday) on my show the Live with Renk show, which airs Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to noon, to let me know your thoughts at (269) 441-9595.

Or please feel free to start a discussion and write your thoughts in the comment section.